Iron Sculptures by Rolf Hans, Set of 2

Rolf Hans
Frankfurt 1938 - 1996 Basel
Othello I, right 1991
Othello I, left 1991
2 iron sculptures
each signed, dated and titled on the bottom
82 x 10 x 12.5cm

Unique pieces

A catalog about the artist is included with the sculptures.

Provenance: Artist's estate

At the beginning of the 1970s, Rolf Hans began designing objects for the first time. They are small sculptures that he assembles from iron pipes with a round or square profile. with them he seeks to create a new, three-dimensional experiential reality parallel to the paintings he created at the same time.
In 1987 Hans took up the medium of sculpture again. For him, the work process is no longer a matter of conscious construction, but rather of being guided by what is given. And as with his painting work, his objects now arise out of an inner necessity, not to fill an intellectual vacuum. “This compulsion has had me in its grip for decades and for a few years I have been trying to pacify it with the ‘Poetry of Things’ cycle.” The intellectual climate was prepared.”
In the last decade of his life, Hans concentrated on working on the sculpture cycle. And as if intoxicated, he draws on the new possibilities that the design of the objects offers him: "The poetry of things grows, it swallows up all the time, a lot is neglected, hardly any letters anymore, the diary is largely silent, concert visits are limited to the essentials. A compulsion arises and yet it began as a game, but experiments were always a serious matter that put a strain on the whole guy. [...] The objects have crept into my rationale, carefully and unnoticed, claim their place, have taken it, are part of myself.”
"It's a difficult thing with art, looking at your predecessors you try to find the way, the zeitgeist and its aesthetics influence the direction, you know whether the dissatisfaction is in which you are moving. Now, in the middle of the 'poetry of things', a feeling of freedom, yet closely connected to much of what came before, there is no program, just a title that allows any work of freedom."
But despite the role models in front of his eyes, Hans manages to find completely unique ways of formulating his object cycle right from the start. What connects him with Max Ernst, Brancusi, Duchamp is solely the source material: found objects.
They are completely banal things from everyday life - previously needed, useful and practical things such as tools, everyday objects, devices - that have lost their function and now serve as a door to the artist's imagination.
In this way, Hans strips things of their previous, traditional function or their archaic purpose and transports them into another, new reality in order to give them soul again. Without aestheticizing, he doesn't want to deny the form he finds. Only slightly changing their 'innate' structure, signs of wear and color, he seeks to emphasize their meaning and purpose as a form and to redefine their inherent charisma.
Things are processed, have to reveal their uniqueness in the struggle with the artist and make new statements in connection with other objects.
In this way, Hans presents the abstract symmetries of the wood and metal objects without any artificiality and places them on a pedestal in accordance with artistic tradition. He also integrates it into the work. As the lowest component, the base not only prepares the sculpture, but also loosens, dissolves or strengthens its connection to the earth. with this erecting, he gives the sculptures a further life of their own, a second existence, so to speak, and also gives them a new identity with a new name. “They show their personality, one more, another less, as is the case in life or in art.” What they all have in common is their work from the past into the here and now. In doing so, they reveal their original beauty and the mystique that inspires our imagination.
No matter how ambivalently we encounter Rolf Hans' sculptures and objects, they are never loud or exalted. In their balanced and simple appearance, they come into contact with us quietly but decisively. Strangely, they repeatedly ask us to ask questions: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? They do not provide us with any information that could help us answer the question. In return, they give us even greater scope for associations and imaginations. They appeal to our subconscious. They invite us to linger and meditate: it is the familiar beginning and the unconscious departure to the mysteries of creation.

Exhibitions (selection)

2023 Kunsthandel Draheim, position berlin art fair
2023 Galerie Jörg Schuhmacher, Frankfurt am Main "Rolf Hans-farbenspiel"
2022 Galerie Michael Blaszczyk, Bad Homburg, Rolf Hans, “Insights Homage & Reflection”
2021 Galerie Jörg Schumacher, Frankfurt am Main "Rolf Hans-Colour Worlds"
2021 Galerie Michael Blaszczyk, Bad Homburg “Language of Colors - The Basel Cabinet”
2020 Malte Ueckermann art trade, Berlin,
Kanalidarte, Brescia “Che cosa avrebbe detto Hegel_ROLF HANS… e la Poesia della cose”, Italy
Kunsthandel Draheim “art Karlsruhe”, “Poetry of Things”
2019 Galerie Jörg Schuhmacher, Frankfurt am Main, Galerie Blaszczyk, Bad Homberg
2018 Art Karlsruhe, Kunsthandel Draheim, Wiesbaden, Color Fields 2018 Galerie Dekker, Baden-Baden, retrospective Galerie Blaszczyk, Bad Homburg
2017 Gallery Eklektik, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2016 Galerie Schuhmacher, Frankfurt am Main 2016 Galerie Cerny & Partner, Wiesbaden (language of colors) Art Karlsruhe, Kunsthandel Draheim, Wiesbaden (Tachistic painting + iron sculptures) Galerie Rainer Klimczak, Viersen Galerie Schuhmacher, Frankfurt a.M. (Black on white) 2015 Galerie Blaszczyk, Bad Homburg art Karlsruhe, one Artist show (Galerie Cerny and Partner) Gallery Eklektik, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2014 Galerie Jörg Schuhmacher, Frankfurt am Main (A Retrospective-1) Galerie Tristan Lorenz., Frankfurt am Main (A Retrospective-2) Hellhof Galerie, Kronberg im Taunus (Works from 1960 - 1980) Art Fair, Cologne, Monochrome Painting (Gallery & Art Dealer Draheim, Wiesbaden)
2013 art dealer Thole Rotermund, Hamburg (In the force field of color) + catalog gallery & art dealer Draheim, Wiesbaden (painting & sculpture 1970 – 1990)
2012 art KARLSRUHE, one artist show (Gallery & art dealer Draheim, Wiesbaden) 2011 Gallery & art dealer Draheim, Wiesbaden (In a frenzy of colors – works from the 60s)
2009 Ketterer Kunst, Berlin (Rolf Hans - Painting and Sculpture) Kunsthandel Michael Draheim, Wiesbaden (Rolf Hans - Poetry of Things)
2008 Galerie Art Mayence, Mainz (Rolf Hans - color language) Galerie Jörg Schuhmacher, Frankfurt a. M. (Rolf Hans) Galerie Winterberg, Munich (Rolf Hans - The Language of Colors) Galerie Jörg Schuhmacher, Frankfurt a.M., Art Karlsruhe (Rolf Hans - one artist show)
2007 Galerie Jörg Schuhmacher, Frankfurt a. M. (“Rolf Hans in the field of tension of the ‘Quadriga’”) 2001 Kunstraum Aare, Olten (“Rolf Hans – pictures, sculptures, photographs”) 1999 “Kunst im Liebrüti”, Kaiseraugst (“Martin Frigg and Rolf Hans”) 1992 Kommunale Galerie, Linienbad (“Gabriele Schmolk-Hieber, pictures – Rolf Hans, objects”)
1991 Museum Schloß Salder, Salzgitter (“Poetry of Things”) 1990 Galerie Brechbühl, Grenchen (“Poetry of Things”) 1985 1985 Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen (“Two Friends, Ho-Kan, Milan – Rolf Hans, Basel”) Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen (“Rolf Hans – Oil Paintings 1983-1985”) 1981
1981 Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen (“Rolf Hans – Rolf Brunner – Michelle Hänggi”) SWB Forum, Bern (“Frans Webering, Plexiglas objects – Rolf Hans, watercolors”)
1978 1978 Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen (“30 years of Galerie Toni Brechbühl”)
1977 Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen “Art” 8/77, Basel (Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen)
1975 “Art Basel” 6/75, Basel (Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen) Galerie Chutz in Solthurn (oil paintings, gouaches) 1966 Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen (watercolours)
1964 Galerie Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen (drawings, gouaches, oil paintings)


Works by Rolf Hans are in private and public collections